Dangers that Lurk in a Kiss: Quarantining the American Mouth, 1890–1920

Abstract

Abstract Affluent women, with the inconsistent support of some medical experts, led an early twentieth-century push to stop the practice of kissing. Imogene Rechtin of Cincinnati and likeminded activists argued that all forms of kissing spread harmful bacteria. The anti-kissing campaign was part of a larger effort to impose stricter discipline over the mouth, which thanks to recent advances in bacteriology had been identified as a dangerous vector of disease. Shaped by the Progressive Era inclination to solve problems through strategies of spatial separation, the effort to “quarantine” the American mouth involved disrupting social practices such as sharing the communion chalice and using a common cup at drinking fountains. The anti-kissing movement also attempted to protect women from unsolicited social kisses from other women and uninvited erotic kisses by men. Though public health officials strongly supported other mouth reforms, they opposed the anti-kissing campaign, largely on the nonmedical grounds that it was an impossible rejection of human sexuality. Then as now, public health arguments over mouth practices have been shaped by deeper battles over individual autonomy and the obligations of the individual to society.